May 2nd, 1998
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe.
La Cite des Papes
When Clement V was on his solemn procession to be crowned, a wall crashed down on the cavalcade, knocking the Pope off his horse, sending his tiara flying. When the tiara was recovered, its most precious jewel, a ruby, was missing. This crash was a fitting prelude to a reign which began a time of troubles for the papacy.
..After Benedict died, the cardinals wrangled for almost a year before Orsini and Colonna interests agreed on a compromise candidate, Bertrand de Got. Bertrand had been absent visiting his see of Bordeaux. He accepted, took the name Clement V, and summoned the cardinals to Lyons for his coronation. Born at Villandraut in Gascony in 1264, Bertrand rose steadily in the service of the Church to be archbishop of Bordeaux. Though a friend of Philip IV, he had been loyal to Boniface VIII in his struggle with the French monarch. Naturally, however, he welcomed Benedict's appeasement policy and had renewed his friendship with Philip. Clement, unwilling to face the trouble of living in turbulent Rome, wandered about France. Finally in 1309 he settled at Avignon, a pleasant little town on the banks of the Rhone. Avignon then belonged not to the king of France but to the king of Naples. It was almost surrounded by the papal territory of the Venaissin, and Clement VI purchased the town itself. Thus started the Avignon "exile" or the "Babylonian Captivity" of the papacy which was to last, with a slight interruption, until 1378.


snap Starting Point Cote d'Azur Avignon You are here The hystorical details you find in this section come from many sources but, please, do not ever forget that all of this just started as a family album.
Palais des Papes - II Leaving Avignon Camargue Fragments
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